


Riverbed

by SquidSoup



Category: Persona 2
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 17:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8022280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquidSoup/pseuds/SquidSoup
Summary: A river may flow beautifully, or it may remain stagnant and dull.





	Riverbed

Anna stared at the pavement, right in front of her eyes. It was the only thing she could see. She felt no pain, and absolutely no other feeling in her body, nor could she hear anything. She didn’t understand, didn’t know what had happened, but she knew that whatever it was, it was bad. It wasn’t until she was staring at the sky, and then the flashing lights, that she understood.

 

* * *

 

 They didn’t talk much when together, as always. But unlike always, Anna was in an hospital bed, Tatsuya standing by her side, both too distressed to do or say anything. Tatsuya wanted to break the silence, do anything, say anything. If Noriko was here, he thought, she would be asked by nurses to not be loud, but something would be happening, not this silent stagnation. But Noriko was at home with a fever, still unaware of the accident (Tatsuya would later tell her as soon as she came back to school, least she jumped out of bed and collapsed in her way to the hospital.)

He looked at Anna’s face for the second time since his arrival. She was a quiet girl; with a rebellious attitude that was overlooked by her athletic abilities; but among her peers she had a reputation of being unfriendly and rude. She didn’t really mind, the less people around the less the suffocated. That’s how she was found to be an exceptional runner in the first place, though, by running away when feeling overwhelmed. She was always one to run away.

Except that now she couldn’t even walk out of this. Moving was barely possible, her life wasn’t in danger anymore, but all she wanted was to get up, jump out of the window and run. Run until all was left behind, maybe run so fast she faded away and that was the end of it. But there was only her, the cold hospital room and her best friend unable to find the words to comfort her.

Until eventually, Tatsuya opened his mouth and said “I’m sorry.” Just that. If it hurt to see Anna like that, he couldn’t even imagine what it felt to be her, and he didn’t want to make things worse and lose his only friend.

She didn’t say anything at first. They didn’t even look at each other. More silence followed, but now there was a slowly rising tension, and even if the air was cold, it felt heavier, it suffocated, water was rising from the floor to the roof and soon it would cover both teenagers and drown them.

 

“SHUT UP!”

And the rising water turned into a storm without thunder, shaking and crying, unable to do anything but sit and watch her own life run far from her.

 

* * *

 

 

After Anna was released from the hospital, she went home and never back to school. What was the point, she thought, if her life was never going to come back for her. She could walk, but even that left her in mild pain and had to do it with moderation, and she was more tired than ever before, physically and mentally. She would barely talk to Tatsuya or Noriko, only a few words if she really had to. But all Anna did was stare at the wall, or the ceiling, and lie down like a stagnant river.

Her parents gave up on her as well and didn’t bother to even think of their daughter anymore. As such, Tatsuya took it on himself to pass by twice a day and leave her meals and snacks beside her bed. Sometimes a convenience store lunchbox, sometimes his own lunch that Katsuya had prepared and all (Anna liked cheesecake much more than Tatsuya did, so giving it to her was something that didn’t change from the old days.)

Noriko came over a couple of times, but after an argument she stopped. It would seem like she was angry at Anna, and she did seem frustrated, but much like Tatsuya, she didn’t know what to do other than wait and hope she’d get better on her own. All adults besides Mrs. Saeko had given up on her, and even the teacher herself only visited once.

“It’s on Anna to pick herself up now; all we can do is to let her know she’s not alone.” And with that, Mrs. Saeko focused on her other students who she had a more tangible relationship with. Anna will be fine on her own, she said. Tatsuya wasn’t so sure about that.

One evening, he visited the Yoshizaka home as usual, using what Anna’s house keys to enter, and afterwards he passed by the dining room, where her parents were having dinner, conversing like their daughter wasn’t drowning inside herself. Like she was never there those eighteen years.

“Thank you for everything, Suou, you’re a life saver.”

“If only we could have had a son like you... Hey, wouldn’t you want us to adopt you?” joked Yosizaka father, while his wife laughed.

Tatsuya gripped his lighter and bike’s keys in one hand, Anna’s keys on the other. Stay calm, stay quiet, don’t hurt and don’t be hurt. Whatever he did to have almost killed those guys back in middle school he’d gladly do to them with no doubt, but he would only be causing more trouble for Anna and himself, and he didn’t know if this time it’d get out of hand. His head hurt and his chest was on fire, and so he said a clumsy goodbye and rushed outside to get air.

 

* * *

 

 

“If our roles were reversed, I wouldn’t be able to help you, either” she had said before walking past him and leaving. “You, I, and him too are already dead.”

Zodiac’s music felt a lot like being underwater.

 

* * *

 

 

The night sky was clear of clouds, though the light pollution didn’t let it show any stars. The moon, however, was full and beautiful, an island in an ocean. Its light shined on Anna’s mask as she stood on the rooftop of Giga Macho, looking inside her pockets’ for a cigarette pack, and cursed when it was nowhere to be found.

“Is this, perhaps, yours?”

She only didn’t curse from the surprise because by now, seeing Joker appear out of nowhere to talk in riddles or some weird shit like that was usual. The only of the Masked Executives who as much yelped now was Queen Aquarius, and Anna would chuckle under her breath every time it happened.

“Thanks” she said taking the pack and pushing up the mask to her head. At this hour of the night, nobody was going to see them, and if someone did she could just run.

Doing the Joker charm only took as much as charging her phone after hearing her parents talking about it from her room. She almost didn’t do it, but then there was Joker, asking about her dream. She didn’t expect to be asked to become Lady Scorpio, but she accepted the mask. There was no life for her to return to, no friends or adults to support her. Upon hearing of Tatsuya’s sin, she swore him off her heart.

She wondered if Noriko hated her. No running back into her arms now, even if she wanted to.

“The moon is sublime, isn’t it?” spoke Joker, with many different voices at once, young and old and beautiful and ugly.

“I guess, yeah.” She saw their left arm reach out, as if trying to grasp the moon. A violent fellow, Joker was, so seeing a gesture that looked so sad and almost protective made her not realize the cigarette had fallen off her mouth and down the building. Hopefully nothing flammable was there. She thought of Noriko’s smile again.

“It is a pretty moon.”

 

* * *

 

 

_Her heart was a river, one that flowed faster towards the ocean, cleansing all that was on it. Anna Yoshizaka crossed the finishing line and kept running. She jumped amidst the noise of everyone watching the race, the sound of water in her purifying both cheers and laments from those who rooted for others. And in the middle of it, she found Noriko, energetically shaking Tatsuya’s sleeve and calling for her, and Tatsuya smiled at her in one of those rarely seen smiles of his._

_And she smiled too, and landed like a waterfall, running one last time towards her friends, and they were the riverbed that held her, now and always._

**Author's Note:**

> This is heavy into headcanon territory, but I really like the fact that Tatsuya and Anna are close friends, and since we won't be getting info on their relationship any time soon (if ever) I took the liberty to write some snippets of her life. Wanted to add more on Noriko, but couldn't really find what and how. 
> 
> I like to think that Anna's element manifests very river-like, while Eikichi is more like an ocean, even if I couldn't put him on here. 
> 
> Any and all comments and critiques are more than welcome! Please let me know if there's anything I can fix or imrpove on.


End file.
